Happy Holidays!

The club’s annual “In From The Cold” Christmas benefit dance took place on the evening of Friday 13th. The evening started with a pot-luck dinner at 6PM followed by an evening of dancing until the reality that it was Friday 13th hit the computer and hearing assist causing both units to stop working. Both are up and running again. The hearing assist is sporting a replacement power supply courtesy of Value Village and the computer after extensive testing has been declared fit for service again. In spite of the gremlins it was a very successful evening with $756 raised for Parkdale United Church’s “In From The Cold” program. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the evening! I will have some pictures (courtesy Ziggy) in the “Gallery” hopefully before too long.

The website has been updated with the dance calendar for the next session which will run from early January to the end of March. Monday dancing starts on Jan 6 and Thursday dancing on Jan 9 for 12 weeks. Monday dancers please make note that Feb. 17th is Family Day so there won’t be dancing that day.

An upcoming change to the website will be the addition of a password to access the Dropbox videos. Once this is done I’ll email all our club members with the password. If you haven’t received it once it’s in effect please email WebKeeper@capitalcarousels.ca and I’ll email it to you. If you know someone in another dance club who’s been using the videos to improve their dancing please give me their email and I’ll send them the password.

It’s now officially winter and you can expect some stormy days when you’ll wonder if dancing is on. Please check your email before setting out to see if there’s a cancellation notice. I will also try to get a cancellation notice front and center on the website as well.

A number of dancers are heading on vacation in the next couple of months. Safe travels to all.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah and Happy Dancing in 2020.

Carousel’s 2019/2020 Dance Season About To Begin!

I’ve forgotten. Is this a bolero or a foxtrot?

Can you believe it! In less than 2 weeks the Fall dance season begins at Capital Carousels. It’s time to figure out where you tossed those dance shoes back in May.

Pat has been busy making up dance programs and the first couple are posted on this website so please check them out and start reviewing if you’d like.

The fee structure this year is the same as last year, $5 per dancer for each dance day if paying in advance for a complete session, otherwise $8 per dancer if paying each dance day.
Monday dances will run from Sep. 9 to Dec. 9 with no dancing Oct. 14 and Nov. 11.
Thursday dances will run from Sep. 12 to Dec 5 with no dancing Oct. 31.
The club’s anniversary dance will be held this year on Friday Oct. 4 and the “In From The Cold” benefit dance on Friday Dec. 13. Both dances will be potluck with the hall opening at 5:30PM and dinner starting at 6PM.

“Capital Caper” takes place this year on Oct. 25 & 26. One change to note, there will now be an additional dance on Friday night following a shorter teach.

That’s about it for now. Look forward to seeing everyone on the dance floor very soon.

Season’s Greetings

Capital Carousels held their annual Christmas Party/Benefit dance on Friday Dec 7th. The evening started with an excellent “Potluck” dinner followed by a couple of hours of dancing. As in previous years all funds collected were donated to Parkdale United’s “In From The Cold” program. The hall was nicely decorated courtesy of Pat & Jill who have now handed the club’s decoration duties over to Robert & Jean. It was nice to have Pat, Marion, and Donna back with us for the evening. Also Arlo and Maureen sporting their tans. Thanks to all the people who worked so hard to make the dinner and dance such a success. $750 was raised for the “In From The Cold” program.
Check out the “Gallery” for newly added pictures of the dance and also the 2018 Capital Caper back in October.

The website will be undergoing some changes over the next few weeks bringing it up-to-date for the Winter Session. Some changes like Winter Session dates/rates have already been posted under the “Dance Season” menu.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2019!

Final Week Of Fall Session Dancing

Is that a “Step Hop” that Santa’s doing?

Next week is our final dance week of the Fall session. It’s probably not that hard to believe with snow on the ground for a couple of weeks now!
In addition to our regular Monday and Thursday dance sessions next week, don’t forget our Christmas Party night next Friday Dec 7th. Doors will open at 5:30PM with a potluck dinner starting at 6PM. Dancing will start at 7PM and continue until approx. 9 – 9:30PM. Again this year admittance to the dance is $15 with all funds received being donated to Parkdale United’s “In From The Cold” program which feeds 125 – 150 needy people each week. Donations of $20 or more will receive a tax receipt.

The Winter dancing sessions will start on Monday Jan 7th and Thursday Jan 10th. The website will be updated with more Winter session information after next week so please check back then. I’ll be sending out an email to all dancers once the update is done.

If you wake up to inclement weather on a dance morning and wonder if dancing has been cancelled please check for an email from the club executive to that effect before leaving home. If you don’t have email an attempt will be made to contact you by phone.

Hope to see you at the party next week!

‘Tis The Season Of Giving

Originally posted by Donna Stewart November/24/2017 08:45 PM

Our dance season has just flown by hasn’t it! It is hard to believe we are about to embark on the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. For the 5 years we have run as Capital Carousels, we have chosen to give back to Parkdale United Church by donating to their “In From The Cold Program”. This program feeds between 150-200 people per week who are in need of a healthy meal. We are always delighted to take our Christmas Party as a chance to have a wonderful evening with a dinner and dance, and enjoy each others company. Through our donation at the door, we are also able to directly contribute to the “In From The Cold” Program. All the money received at the door goes DIRECTLY to this worthy cause. We are asking for a donation of $15 per couple, but for anyone who donates $20 or more, you will also receive a tax receipt. Thanks so much in advance for your contributions!
So what will happen at our “In From The Cold” Christmas Party? The party takes place on Friday, December 8. The doors will open at 5:30PM and we can expect to be eating by around 6:00PM. As everyone should know by now, this is a potluck dinner. We have some wonderful cooks in our midst here at Capital Carousels and nothing like a potluck dinner for us to be able to sample some of these excellent dishes! As in years past, we are signing up for either “sweet” or “savoury”. Ian and Ann have created a signup sheet which will be on Gavin’s table for your convenience. Plates and utensils will be supplied. You might be best to bring any utensils you might require to serve up your potluck dish.
We will take about an hour for our meal and then we will have our dance after that. As in years past, we will have some Christmas dances on the program and you will notice in the next couple of weeks, Pat will have some posted on our programs to give us a chance to practice.
This dance will be our last one of the year before we take our Christmas break. We always have a great time as we celebrate the holidays and also experience the joy of giving. Happy Holidays to all!

Christmas Dance This Coming Friday!

Originally posted by Donna Stewart December/04/2016 06:39 PM

Looks like Santa has got himself in a heap of trouble this year!! Too bad he has been so busy up at the North Pole or he could have participated in our dance sessions! Always an opportunity to get on the good side of the Big Guy! Sorry for your dilemma Santa!
This week is the final week of our Fall Session for 2016. Our Monday club is finished with its dance teaches this session and we will be enjoying an all dance session complete with Christmas dances and special Christmas treats! Very much looking forward to this one! Our Wednesday and Thursday clubs will be working on the West Coast Swing Dance, “You’re Something Special to Me”. As John and I have been mentioning, if you are the practicing type, please try and dance the dance and also practice some whip family figures if you’d like! Very good news this week as Lyn and Mike have already uploaded the West Coast Swing dance figures which John and I had done last Thursday and are now available on DropBox! If you need the DropBox link, you can go to the Links section at the top of the page here and in the dropdown menu, you will see Dance Video Sites. The DropBox link is found at the bottom of that page. We do hope you find them helpful and special thanks again to Lyn and Mike for all of their hard work on the videos and the DropBox site. I will still be running practice sessions to hash cues this week prior to the start of both Wed and Thurs clubs, so if you’d like some extra practice time, please feel free to join us.
Alrighty then! When the regular sessions are done this week, there is only one dance left for us this year—our “In From The Cold” Christmas Benefit Dance this coming FRIDAY NIGHT!! All of the festivities will be starting at 5:30PM for a Meet & Greet at Parkdale. Our Potluck Dinner will begin at 6PM so be sure to bring your favourite dish-either a main dish or dessert. Capital Carousels will be supplying the dinner rolls and butter so we are covered there. If you have not already signed up for food, you may do so this week. The list will be located at the registration desk. We will be allotting sometime around an hour for the meal as well as a Christmas song with group participation which Pat promises will be funny and memorable for everyone and I am sure it will be that. You are in for a real treat! Also if anyone has any Christmas or holiday memories they would like to share with the group (it doesn’t have to be too long), please let Pat know so she can fit your memories into the evening. After the meal and entertainment have taken place, the dancing will begin! Pat has put together a wonderful program for Friday night which includes not only dances we have learned so far this year, but also many Christmas dance to really get us in the spirit! Donna will be cueing some of your favourites so be prepared for lots of floor time this Friday night! As you know, our Christmas Party has not just been a time to come together as a club and enjoy and celebrate good times and good friends. We are also here on a more serious note and that is to help those in need this holiday season and beyond! Parkdale United Church has an “In From The Cold” Program in which they feed about 200 less fortunate in the Parkdale area per week. As a gesture of our thanks and goodwill to Parkdale, we allot our proceeds from our Christmas dance to go to the program. Capital Carousels covers the cost of the hall for the evening and Donna donates her services for the evening. All proceeds taken in at the door go directly to the program. We ask for a donation of $15/couple and any donations received for $20 or more will receive tax receipts. Christmas is a time of giving for many and any donations received will be happily accepted.
Won’t you come join us for this fun evening?? A night of many celebrations is in store this Friday evening. See you there!!